Late Neolithic (c. 3500 BC)

Whitegrounds Burial

At Whitegrounds in the Yorkshire Wolds at NGR SE 782682, a Neolithic
stone-lined linear mortuary structure was identified within a stone-capped
oval mound with a walled entrance passage that was eventually closed
by a stone filling. Dated to 5040±100 BP (4040-3640 cal BC) and
5260±200 BP (4510-3640 cal BC), the inner part of the Whitegrounds
structure had an intact charnel spread of two semi-articulated skeletons
with fragmentary bones of six others: also, three skulls were placed
together. This suggests a possible excarnation practice, where the bodies
of the deceased would be left in the open in special enclosures or on
special platforms until only the bones remained, which would then be
placed in the burial monument proper. Recent (1999) determination of
the 13C ratio in the skeletal assemblages pointed to a diet surprisingly
low in fish protein.

Pottery, a key indicator of date in prehistoric archaeology, was a
Neolithic innovation. The earliest ceramic associations for Yorkshire,
and indeed for northern England, sites are of the so-called ‘Grimston’
style (named after Grimston in the Yorkshire Wolds), represented by
fragmentary carinated bowls from the entrance grave with a date range
of 4340-3700 cal BC. This is therefore amongst the earliest pottery
found anywhere in the north of the UK.

Later in the Middle Neolithic period, a grave burial was inserted into
the centre of the barrow. A finely polished jet slider and a ‘Seamer’
type flint axe accompanied a crouched inhumation that provided a date
of 4480±90 BP (3500-2910 cal BC).